Automobiles and other vehicles have served as the host for a wide variety of signs, banners, and flags for many years. These flags have served a number of purposes, including: advertising; demonstrating school or team spirit; indicating vehicle or driver distress; and designating vehicles in a funeral procession. Many devices have also been developed to facilitate the attachment of these signs, banners, and flags to automobiles or other vehicles, and various patents have been issued in the past on devices disclosing some form of flag holding device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,209 to Spica, discloses a portable display means primarily for use as an emergency distress signal. The signal includes an s-shaped channel member having three walls which engages a shaft between two of the walls and a vehicle window between two of the walls. The shaft is also held in place by a locator means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,916 to Kolvites, et al., discloses a flag display device having a suction-cup for engaging a vehicle surface and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the position of a shaft relative to the vehicle surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,381 to Panossian, discloses a vehicle emergency sign, a plurality of interconnected sign panels, and a bracket for mounting the sign on a vehicle window.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,524 to Minotti, discloses a vehicle distress signal having a banner and a clamp for engaging the banner to a vehicle door. The banner includes an attention attraction means, specifically a plurality of electric lights.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,978 to Brucato, discloses a signal device comprising a flag and a flag pole, the flag pole having a handle portion and a mounting portion for engaging the pole to a vehicle window.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,147 to Griffin, discloses a flagstaff for automotive uses including an elongated pole with fasteners for attaching a flag, and a bracket for attaching the pole to a vehicle window. The pole is specially designed to engage the bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,938 to Lalo, discloses a vehicle flag system comprising a flag, a flag mast, and a mount, the mast being configured at its lower end with a mating non-circular cross section which engages the mount.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,153 to Moon, et al., discloses a display device for use on automobiles having a removable staff and a decorative flag and a bracket, the lower portion of the staff including a bifurcated portion and an enlarged ridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,883 to Steed, et al., discloses a flag mounting having a flag, a separable two piece flag mast, and a mounting means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,426 to O'Neill, discloses a highway safety device having a supporting unit, a pole, a flag, and a light atop the pole. The supporting unit and pole are integrally attached.
All of these devices have suffered from severe limitations. None of the above patents disclose a flag holding device in which more than one shaft is engaged. Though Kolvites provides a device capable of adjusting the orientation of a shaft, none of the above patents disclose a flag holding device in which multiple fixed sockets offer alternative orientations for a shaft. The above patents also fail to provide a flag-holding device capable of engaging a simple cylindrical shaft on a moving vehicle through compression, while simultaneously engaging a vehicle window with sufficient flexibility to prevent breakage of a frangible shaft.